"My dear friends, you're now about to enter the nerver center of the entire
Wonka factory. Inside this room some of my dreams become reality and some of my
realities become dreams."
I dream of being able to read my email while jogging; To have my computer act as a personal assistant, prompting me with information on someone or something IT recognizes; Liberating myself from being a computer's slave while still retaining the additional mental power a machine affords.
This is not science fiction. We are running towards this new world at great speeds, and I want to help us get there faster.
Current Projects
See Hardware or Software for projects I am either currently working on or have completed recently.
Wearcomp Philosophy
I don't believe that the world will change itself to accomodate wearable computers. Conversely, to gain wide acceptance, wearables must first fit into our current ideas about fashion, computing, and society. Wearables are about freedom, removing us from the confines of the workplace defined by the industrial revolution while retaining the powerful technology that it bore.
I am building my wearable around these concepts. Primarily, a successfully accepted wearable computer must be lightweight with an inconspicuous design. Secondarily, it must have the ability to run programs that we are currently familiar with; It must not abandon current technology (as many "handhelds" do), but instead build upon existing software and technology.
With that said, I have chosen the following components for my first wearable computer. I have some modifications to perform, however several components already exist that meet my general specifications.
Hardware
Main Computer
For the actual computer, I have bought a Cappuccino PC. (Specs)
The Cappuccino is basically a full-blown desktop machine (1 GigHZ Intel processor, 30 GB HD, 256MB Ram) in compact and lightweight design. It sucks up alot of power though, so I'll be relying on technology improvements in power. I believe batteries technology will vastly improve because of consumer demand in electronics.
With the exception of switching to battery power, modifications will be limited simply to adding periferal devices.
Input Devices
I will be utilizing several different input devices since no single one fulfills all of the functions I will need. Input devices will include:
- Twiddler (see Tek Gear's site) or Other single hand keyboard
- Standard QWERTY keyboard and mouse (Logitech wireless keyboard and mouse)
- Voice Recognition (Via Voice)
It is very uncomfortable for me to be tethered by my wrist to the computer, therefore the single hand keyboard must be wireless.
Additionally, I was brought up on QWERTY keyboards, so for my sake, I want to retain their use. Now, the annoyance becomes switching between the single hand and the QWERTY keyboard and mouse. To lessen my grief at exchanging plugs, I am attempting to hack my wireless logitech mouse and keyboard as well as my Twiddler.
I have purchased additional logitech wireless keyboards and mice with the intention of pulling out their radio transmitters. In short, I will take the transmitters and connect them to my Twiddler (or other single handed keyboard.) The receiver will be attached to my Cappuccino. When I want to switch between the two, I will only have to press the "Connect" button on the receiver (and/or transmitter). This design will allow me to switch easily between using my single hand wireless keyboard/mouse, and my traditional wireless QWERTY keyboard and mouse.
Voice recognition utilization will initially be limited to accessing "shortcuts" on my computer.
A miniture camera will be essential in order to access data for the visual recognition technology I wish to play with.
Scanning will either be done from "home base", or by using a small pen-style scanner.
Output Devices
For my screen, I will be utilizing a head mounted display (HMD).
Until this technology comes farther, I'll be using the more obvious, yet relatively inexpensive Cy-Visor (see Tek Gear's Site).
The other two contenders were:
The M2 is ideal, yet is still more obvious than I would like. The CO-3 is more covert, yet does not have the display resolution that I am looking for. Both of the HMDs are expensive. $5,000 (USD) for the M2, and $2,500 (USD) for the CO-3 Beta.
When I wish to share what I am viewing, I can hook into a typical monitor, TV, or other projection system. I will initially carry a small LCD display in order to accomodate this sharing until public displays are more readily available.
I intend to utilize a wireless WAN card in order to access the Internet, make phone calls, send faxes, etc.
Printing will need to be accomplished from a "home base". In an ideal scenario, everyone would be using a wearcomp and printing would not be necessary - I would simply transfer my files to another's computer.
Software
My first priority is getting an acceptable wearcomp together. At that point I will be able to load all of my typical desktop applications on to the computer. After that, I plan on focusing on developing software for the following applications:
- Artifical & Expert Intelligence solutions that will provide a more human feel to my wearable while searching databases for example.
- Visual recognition software allowing my wearcomp to prompt me with information regarding people IT recognizes. This technology will act not only as a great assistant to me, but is extremely useful for those with memory disorders.
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